Nearly 1,700 UK investors have sued Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao at London’s High Court, seeking at least £150 million ($200 million) over risky, complex derivative products the claimants say the exchange sold them without regulatory authorisation. The claim form, dated 29 June 2026 and led by claimant Tomas Sutas, names four defendants—Cayman Islands-registered Binance Holdings Limited, Abu Dhabi-registered Nest Exchange Limited, Zhao personally, and unidentified “persons unknown” operating the Binance trading platform.
Filed by law firm KP Law, the action argues that these operators promoted and sold leveraged tokens, cryptocurrency futures, cryptocurrency options and margin trading products to UK consumers from around 13 September 2019 while acting as unauthorised persons under the Financial Services and Markets Act.
Why FSMA Matters For Binance
The claimants anchor their case in the general prohibition, alleging that the sale of the products in the UK breached section 19 of FSMA and their promotion breached section 21. Under that framework, agreements made by an unauthorised firm can be treated as unenforceable, and the claimants rely on sections 26 and 30 to recover monies and property paid under each agreement, plus compensation for resulting losses, with interest sought under section 35A of the Senior Courts Act 1981.
Zhao and Binance Holdings face the same relief as alleged accessories, with the claimants arguing they acted pursuant to a common design with the operator defendants. The claim advances primarily in the cryptocurrencies used for payment, and in pounds sterling as an alternative. KP Law frames the harm as widespread and, in some cases, severe. Some claimants say they lost tens of thousands of pounds, and the firm has said there “appeared to be no effective barrier preventing UK customers from accessing them” after Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) banned the sale of crypto derivatives and exchange-traded notes to retail consumers in January 2021.
Binance’s Mounting Legal Front
Binance has denied wrongdoing and said it will contest the claim, claiming the exchange remains committed to its obligations to users and will defend itself through the appropriate legal process, while declining to comment further on the ongoing litigation.
The exchange told customers in France, Italy, Poland and Spain it would suspend services after failing to hold a MiCA licence by July 1, handing rivals Coinbase and OKX a window to court departing users with transfer bonuses. Zhao has since argued the exchange’s withdrawn Greek application was close to approval before political pushback, describing the outcome as damaging for both Binance and Europe.
That account followed reports that ECB President Christine Lagarde signalled to Greek officials that Binance was not welcome in Europe, a claim neither the ECB nor Greek authorities have publicly confirmed. Binance’s European push has run alongside earlier scrutiny in its bid for a Greek base, where Wall Street Journal reporting cited internal investigators who allegedly flagged $1.7 billion in transfers involving Iranian and Russian actors, allegations the exchange disputed.
